Thomas Tuchel felt England’s players deserved more support against Wales as he took aim at the “silent” Wembley crowd following Thursday’s 3-0 friendly win.
A packed house watched the Euro 2024 runners-up carry on where they left off in Serbia last month, with Morgan Rogers opening his international account just 130 seconds into the game.
Ollie Watkins put England further ahead and Bukayo Saka brilliantly added a third in the 20th minute, but Wales avoided further humiliation and Tuchel expressed frustration with the Wembley faithful.
“We did very, very well,” he told ITV. “We had an excellent first half, we were 3-0 up very quickly but could have been four or five up at half-time.
“Then we couldn’t score the fourth one or the fifth one. The stadium was silent. Silent.
“We never got any energy back from the fans and I think the players delivered a lot to get more from the fans.
“So, it was difficult to keep everything going in the second half, but we did excellent, we deserved to win. Next step in the right direction.”
Asked if he expected more from Wembley, Tuchel responded: “Yeah, what more can you give in 20 minutes? Three goals, the way we attacked Wales and didn’t let them escape.
“Even in their own half, ball win after ball win after ball win. If you then hear for half an hour just Wales fans, yeah, it’s a bit sad because I think the team deserved big support today.”
Tuchel seemed as surprised by the atmosphere as he was with the first question of the post-match press conference revolving around his remarks about it.
“That’s your first question after that? OK,” the England boss said. “Good moment to explain myself.
“First of all, I said the support in Serbia was absolutely fantastic when we played last time. I said it and I meant it.
“I love English football and I love English football fans and the support they give. But I think today the atmosphere did not match the performance on the field.”
Tuchel is certain England will again be backed by fantastic support in Latvia when they resume World Cup qualification on Tuesday, just as he believes they will be backed to the hilt next summer.
“Today we were 3-0 up after 20 minutes, we had ball in after ball in after ball in, and I felt like ‘why is the roof still on the stadium?’ That’s just it,” he said. “It’s nothing big.
“It could have helped us also in the second half in some moments to regain energy and to regain rhythm. It was not like this today, so no problem.
“We will do everything again to be infectious. There is no problem.
“Like I said, I really mean it, I’m sure we will get everyone going, it’s on us. But today I was a little underwhelmed.”
